It was pretty clear that Microsoft’s own tablet would step on some toes, but most were hoping it would be the iPad’s rather than its partners’. Furthermore, the company has kept the entire thing under wraps quite well, to the point where not even its partners were informed until the actual announcement, and it obviously wasn’t pleasant news.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Acer’s CEO JT Wang said that launching the Surface would be negative for the computing ecosystem. He urged Microsoft to think the entire thing over, and he did it in no uncertain terms.

"We have said think it over. Think twice", Wang said. He pointed out that other brands may react negatively as a result. As if that wasn’t enough, Wang highlighted the fact that tablets are “not something [Microsoft is] good at, so please think twice.“

Interestingly enough, Wang said that Acer may even replace Microsoft as its partner should the company follow through with the plan. Seeing as how Microsoft is quite keen on wetting its beak on the hardware side of things, Wang inquired as to what Acer should do. “Should we still rely on Microsoft, or should we find other alternatives?", Wang asked. While we understand that Acer has nothing to be happy about, we'd very much like to see how exactly would they plan on doing that.

That the Surface is a thorn in Acer’s behind is pretty much clear, and Acer’s senior VP and President for Europe, Middle East and Africa Oliver Ahrens already said that the tablet will fail. He pointed out that one does not become “a hardware player with two products” and added that Microsoft is working with PC vendors, while Apple is alone and can do what it wants.